A $35,000 Lesson: How I Was Scammed on an Augmented Reality Bus Tour Project
By
doctorhandshake
A weekday bagel. Dependable, satisfying, no fuss.
Summary
The author shares a personal story about being scammed out of $35,000 while working on an augmented reality bus tour project for a California-based client. After being approached by a friend about an opportunity to help finish an AR bus tour of a Beijing park, the author engaged with the client despite initial red flags. The client avoided technical discussions about how they solved AR bus challenges, which the author had experience with from previous work with The Mill and IDEO. The article appears to be a cautionary tale about business scams, expensive lessons learned, and the importance of due diligence in professional engagements.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledIn Spring of 2024, a good friend contacted me saying he'd heard of an opportunity to help finish an augmented reality bus tour of a Beijing park.
I was very curious to find out how these folks had addressed them, and on our introductory call I told them as much. They demurred.
In the past, I'd consulted on AR bus bids for both The Mill and IDEO, and from those I was well aware how many hard problems AR buses involved.
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